Learning to appreciate others: neural development of cognitive perspective taking

Neuroimaging studies have thoroughly investigated brain regions that are recruited when we put ourselves in another person's shoes. Taking a third-person perspective (3PP) as opposed to a first-person perspective (1PP) has been associated with brain activation in the inferior parietal cortex, the medial posterior cortex and the prefrontal cortex. Here we investigate for the first time the development of the neural network that yields cognitive perspective taking. Twelve adults (aged 25-32 years) and twelve school-aged children (aged 8-10 years) were investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Behaviorally, we found a decrease of reaction time differences between 3PP and 1PP with age indicating that adults were more efficient in processing a 3PP. Despite the reaction time differences both groups were equally accurate in their judgments. Brain imaging data indicated neural activity in the left inferior parietal cortex and precuneus for adults during 3PP as compared with 1PP judgments. Children additionally showed enhanced activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right inferior perietal cortex. We found a significant interaction between groups and brain activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and in the right inferior parietal cortex. These results suggest that the development of the ability to reason about another person's mind accompanies a shift in activity from frontal to posterior brain regions and from bilateral to unilateral left inferior parietal cortex.